Electric Breast Pump/Double Pumping Kit Order: The state WIC office would like to thank the local WIC agencies for completing the Electric Breast Pump Survey. The result of this survey has assisted the state WIC office in understanding the electric breast pump needs for the Missouri WIC program. Funds have been approved this fiscal year to purchase additional Medela Lactina Select electric breast pumps and double pumping kits. If your agency needs more electric breast pumps and/or double pumping kits, please complete the attached order form and send to Kathy Mertzlufft by email at Kathy.Mertzlufft@health.mo.gov or by fax at 573-526-1470, by COB on Friday, May 18, 2007.

WIC tags for Electric Breast Pumps: In order to continually monitor the electric breast pump loan program and to evaluate the needs for future purchases, the state WIC office needs to have a complete breast pump inventory for each local WIC provider. All electric breast pumps that are loaned to participants and have been purchased with WIC funds, including Breastfeeding Peer Counseling and Enhancement Grant funds, must have a WIC tag attached to the pump. This includes the less expensive breast pumps, such as the Bailey Nurture III. Verification of each agency's electric breast pump inventory will be completed during local monitoring visits. To receive WIC tags, please send the following information by email to Michael Murphy at Michael.Murphy@health.mo.gov by COB on Friday, May 18, 2007.

Please feel free to use them as needed. The printed handouts should be available by June 2007. These handouts in English are already available at the DHSS warehouse. If you have any questions, please contact Takako Tagami at Takako.Tagami@health.mo.gov.

Cultural Competency 201 Training - What WIC Nutrition Staff Need To Know: Attached is the registration brochure for the 2007 WIC Cultural Competency 201 Training Session: “What WIC Nutrition Staff Need To Know”. The purpose of the training is to increase multicultural knowledge, which is one of the competency areas for WIC nutrition assessment in VENA. Although this training is not mandatory, the State WIC office encourages all local WIC providers to send at least one nutrition staff member to the training. If you have questions, please contact Takako Tagami at Takako.Tagami@health.mo.gov.

Shipment of Two Posters: Read the Label First and Check, Check, Check for Ticks: Now that warm weather is here, children spend more time outdoors. Caretakers need to consider taking preventive measures such as applying insect repellent to protect against disease-carrying ticks and mosquitoes. It is also important to remember to read labels and follow application directions before buying or applying repellents. Each LWP will be receiving 2 posters: Read The Label First and Check, Check, Check for Ticks. Both posters are from the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention’s Vector-borne Disease Program. The attached information, Insect Repellent Safety for Ticks and Mosquitoes provides information about insect repellent use and safety. For more information about insect repellent, mosquitoes, and ticks, please visit the following website: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/qa/insect_repellent.htm. If you have any questions or need more materials, please contact Alyce Turner at Alyce.Turner@health.mo.gov.

FFY08 Local Agency Plan (LAP) Training: The Missouri WIC Program is providing one-day LAP Preparation Training for all Local WIC Providers. The one-day sessions will provide attendees with updated information about using current reports and the web-based data mart reports. This training is for all who will be working on the FFY 2008 LAP Workbook. If you have attended the training within the last two years, talk to your Technical Assistance team to see if an exception is possible.
You will want to bring your most current version of your LAP, the one that has the state approvals for FFY2007 and your mid-year evaluation. We will bring a copy without the mid-year evaluation for those who need it. The training will be hands-on and delivered in person to facilitate the answering of specific questions your agency may have about your LAP. Our sessions will depend on trainees from the same agency sharing a laptop computer. We currently have some available laptop computers for each of these trainings; we do not have enough for everyone. We know that many of you have laptops available as well. If you have a laptop available to use for this training, mark this on the registration form and please bring your laptop computer with you. Contact us if you have any questions about whether your laptop will work for this training. For example, if your laptop computer is more than five years old or the version of Microsoft Excel is 97 or earlier, you should contact us.We will have sessions in each district as well as here in Jefferson City throughout the month of July. Space and our laptops are limited at each site, so fax or e-mail your registration to the State WIC office as soon as possible. We suggest the people responsible for the budget sections and the primary person responsible for filling in the nutrition sections attend this training.

Time: 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (One-hour lunch break)
Please register using the attached LAP Training Registration form only. Registrations are due by June 15, 2005 but space is limited so sign up early. If you have questions, please contact Glenn Studebaker, Technical Assistance Coordinator, at the State WIC office at 573-751-6198 or 800-392-8209 or by e-mail at Glenn.Studebaker@health.mo.gov.

Dates & Locations:

Northwest District Office (Independence)

July 2 & 3

DHSS, WIC Nutrition Training Room (Jefferson City)

July 6 & July 13

Southeast District Office (Poplar Bluff)

July 9 & July 10

Eastern District Office (St. Louis)

July 16 & July 17

The Library Center (Springfield)

July 23 & July 24

Northeast District Office (Macon)

July 26 & July 27

State WIC Office Closed May 8 & 28: The State WIC Office will be closed on May 8 for Truman Day and May 28 for Memorial Day and there will be no HANDS Help Desk coverage. If you have a computer problem on these days, you may call the ITSD Help Desk at 800-347-0887.

County-level Data on the OSEDA Web Site: You can find great data for writing grants or doing community presentations for your county on the Office of Social and Economic Data Analysis (OSEDA) web site, www.oseda.missouri.edu. Under OSEDA Features on the right side of the page, click on "County Social and Economic Indicators". Then go to your county- "Data Tables" has data on topics such as population by age and race; income; household; educational attainment; and health status. "Additional Information" has data on topics such as agriculture; business and economics; and youth and family.
If you have questions contact Mark Davis at mark.davis@health.mo.gov or 573-526-5323 or 800-392-8209.

HANDS Report - 810 Participant Listing: As of June 1, 2007, the 810 Participant listing will no longer be available to print by going to the S020 screen in HANDS. This report will be converted to the web-based data mart reports as soon as possible. This policy is listed in the 2006 WOM under ER# 3.09000. That policy will be deleted in the 2007 WOM.
If you have any questions, please contact Melissa Seaver at melissa.seaver@health.mo.gov or 573-751-6489 or 800-392-8209.